2 men going to trial for violent SD crimes

San Diego  Two hearings concluded last week in separate cases, one involving a man charged with killing a Skyline area store owner nearly 17 years ago, and another for a fugitive accused of injuring a deputy U.S. marshal in Clairemont.

Charzel Paladin Shears was 19 when he was identified as a suspect in the April 1996 shooting of Sleiman “Pops” Hallak, owner of Moonlite Market.

Shears was charged with robbery after a gun that was stolen from Hallak was used to take a purse from a woman in National City. The gun was found in a home where Shears was staying.

On Friday, a San Diego Superior Court judge ordered Shears to stand trial on a murder charge, and two counts of premeditated attempted murder. The defendant also faces a special-circumstance allegation of murder during a robbery, which could make him eligible for the death penalty.

Deputy District Attorney David Bost said Shears served prison time for the National City robbery but was not charged with murder until recently. He said new evidence — admissions the Shears made sometime after 1996 — led to the charge.

Hallak, 65, was slain in his store by a masked gunman who demanded cash.

In an unrelated case, a trial was ordered Thursday for Matthew Motsenbocker, 31, who faces charges including assault with a deadly weapon and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Motsenbocker was shot in July by a deputy marshal who was dragged by a car about 100 feet during the incident, said prosecutor Robert Eacret. In two other pending cases, the defendant is accused of burglary, receiving stolen property and petty theft. If convicted in all three cases, he faces a prison sentence of up to 24 years.